Ronald Koeman has been following Stoke City closely in pre-season as he prepares for the Premier League curtain raiser this weekend.

The Everton boss, however, expects the same test from the Potters as whenever they have met before since he arrived in the Premier League.

“It will be a difficult game,” he said at his press conference today. “We’ve followed them in pre-season and they had a lot of games. I heard Mark (Hughes) saying it was more games than they used to do.

“They had changes in the team and they lost (Marko) Arnautovic, they brought some new players in … but Stoke City is always a battle, always a battle home, away. We will see.”

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Stoke have been thrown a difficult looking opening to the season – it’s Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea in the first three home games – but Everton fans are not convinced their start is a piece of cake either.

The visit of Stoke is followed by trips to Manchester City and Chelsea as well as two legs in the Europa League against Hajduk Split. Then it’s Tottenham at home and Manchester United away.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman is preparing to take on Stoke City.

Koeman said: “We know it’s a tough start but it’s about 38 games, getting the points. You know in the Premier League that if you think you have an easy start then they will make you pay.

“It’s a really tough start and it’s different. If everyone is not at their best at the end of pre-season… let’s wait. We have the two Hajduk Split games between away games at City and Chelsea but we have enough players, we have good players, and we like the challenge.”

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There is still an optimism about Everton’s chances this season, however, having spent mega money on Jordan Pickford (£25m), Michael Keane (£25m) and Davy Klaassen (£23.6m).

The capture of Gylfi Sigurdsson from Swansea could dwarf those fees – but they have cashed in £75m from Man Utd for Romelu Lukaku.

Koeman said: “We have big ambitions and that’s what we want to show to everybody but the end of the transfer window is the time to speak about targets and what is possible. We have spent money but everyone is spending money and looking for the best players. It’s a big competition.”